Hygienic hat.



D. J. ROBERTS.

HYGIENIC HAT. APPLICATION PILED'APR. s, 1 02.

966,7 7( Patented Aug. 9, 1910.

. UN T TSTAETES DWIGHT a. nonnnrs, or LOS anenrns, camronnra.

thin hair have an evident anemia of the PATENT OFFIGE.

I-IYGrIENIG HAT.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, DWIGHT J. Runners, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, California, have invented a new anduseful Hygienic Hat, of which the following is a specification. I

This invention relates to a simple and effective hat construction for preserving the health of the scalp, being particularly designed for. use on mens and boys hats, although it may be applied to hats wornby the female sex should their style of head gear so change as to require the wearing of a sweat band similar to that worn by the male sex.

An increasing number of the medical profession are becoming convinced that the chief cause of baldness among men is the deprivationof the hair follicles of a normal quantity and quality of blood by reason of ligation under the sweat leather of the blood vessels supplying the head. This conclu-' sion is founded upon the following facts, which have not only been noted by myself during a number of years practice as a physician, but are well knownin general to the medical profession All men with scalp, and more or less adhesion thereof to theunderlying tissues, a condition unquestiona-bly secondary to therestric'tion of the normal blood flow to and from the terminal.

ness, when observed among women is of a more general nature; cases are not infrequently observed in which a luxuriant growth of hair extends upto the lower margin of the band but the rest of the head is entirely devoid of hair.

Sweat bands now in general use impede the escape of the venous blood from the scalp to even a greater extent than the entrance of the arterial blood thereto as the venous blood has little or no pressure behind it. This results in constant auto-infection of the hair follicles and other tissues of the scalp during the time that the hat is worn by reason of the toxic gas in the venous blood which more or less escapes to, the contiguous tissues when the blood stream is impeded.

Attempts have hitherto been made to construct hats in a manner to relieve the pressure from the blood vessels of the head.

Specification of letters Patent.

Application filed April 8, 1908. Serial No. 425,937.

Such constructions however have not speciallv provided for relieving pressure from the blood vessels which nourish the front portion of the scalp,the locality where baldness almost invariably begins and also where it is most diflicult to conceal and generally considered most detrimental to the personal appearance of the afiicted individual.

In a hat band constructed according to the principles of this invention special provision is made for relieving pressure from those important temporal veins and arteries which nourish the portion of the scalp above, and also at the corners of, the forehead, and at the same time a superior construction is provided for preventing the hat from being removed from the wearers head by the force of the wind.

An object of this invention is to provide more efiective means than hitherto hown in the art to which the invention relates for retaining a hat on the head of the wearer without impeding the circulation of the blood in the scalp or irritating through pressure, the nerve trunks and filaments leading to thescalp.

Another object is to provide means for attaining this desirable result, which may be applied to hats already manufactured; 1 v

A further object is to provide improvedmeans for ventilating a'hat.

Patented Aug.- a, taro.

Other objects and advantages may hereinafter appear.

In a hat constructed according to the principles of this invention the ressure under the sweat band is relieved om all the major bloodvessels of the scalp and trans ferred to points of the cranium that are sparsely supplied with minor vessels.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

which illustrate the invention,--Figure is v a side view. of the head of a person wearing a hat constructed according to the principles of this invention, indicating the location of the principal veins and arteries of the scalp, and showing the hat insection. Fig. 2 1s a front view drawn according to the same general plan as Fig. l. -Fig. 3' is a plan section of the hat approximately on l ne X of Figs. 1 and 2 the outline of the head being indicated by a dotted line and the location of the principal veins and arteries be ing indicated a die rammatic manner. Fig. 4 is a detail front view, slightly in perspective of a fragment of the frame with tion on line X of Fi 6. Referring in detail to the drawings, an annular band or frame 1, desirably formed of aluminum, is fastened between the hat' body 2 and the sweat leather 3 by stitching 4, said stitching being desirably of fine wire and led through small perforations 5 through said metal frame 1. Band 1 is provided with inwardly depressed segmental portions so disposed as not to press upon any of the major blood vessels or nerves of the head. With-this end in view, inwardly depressed sections, preferably four in number,

are provided, namely, segmental side depressionsfi above the ears, a depressed rear segment 7, and a depressed front segment 8. As shown in Fig. 1, each side depression 6 bears upon a portion of the scalp practically barren of .blood vessels, said depressions touching the head just to the rear of the temporal artery 9 and its upward branches, the anterior temporal artery 10 and posterior temporal artery 11; and also to the rear of the temporal vein 12 and its upward branches, the anterior temporal vein 13 and posterior temporal vein 14. Said depressed portion 6' is also located well in front of the posterior auricular artery 15 and posterior provided, as will next be described, for removing the pressure from said blood vessels.

l8 designates corrugations extending transversely to band 1 to remove the pressure from the frontal vein l7 and also from the supra-orbital veins 19 and supra-orbital arteries 20. The arteries, like elastic rubher tubes, maintain a a resilient condition, and will therefore adjust themselves to the grooves 18. The veins will do so but to a less extent. These attributes of the blood vessels will prevent the arteries and veins of the forehead from being materially obstructed by the depressed portion 8 of the band because they will adapt themselves to the corrugations 18, 18. The depressed portion which engages the front part of the head is provided with an extended portion '8 the lower edge of the hat band thus affording a relatively wide bearing surface just above the eye-brows adapted to prevent wind from. blowing the hat off the head, but not compressing any important blood-vessels, the blood-vessels of this part if the head not extending upwardly far enough to contribute to any great extent to the nourishment of the hair follicles. Said depressed portion is omitted at 8 on each side where it would otherwise press'upon those branches of the temporal veins which extend to the upper corners of the forehead, as well shown in Figs. 6 and 7 of the drawm s.

In Fig. 4; the corrugations 18 converge as they approach the top of band 1 to conform more closely to-.the path of the veins and arteries which in the human anatom converge approximately as shown in ig. 2. This construction concentrates upon the front portion of the scalp the coo ing aircurrents which ascend under the corrugations. In the modification shown in Fig. (3, the corrugations 18' are directly transverse to the. band.

The frontal depressed section 8 is made narrower at the top than at the lower edge to provide room for the terminal portion of the anterior temporal artery and its attendant blood vessels. 1

There is reason to believe that the impeding of the flow of the venous blood from the scalp caused by the tight sweat bands now in general use produces many of the headaches which afliict the male sex, and also that various other ailments of the head are caused lower edge of-the band, and holding free from the head the portions of the band above the end portions of the depression.

2. The combination, with a hat body, of a comparatively rigid band, said band having a depressed portion at the front of the hat,

- said depressed portion widening toward the lower edge of the band, and holding free from the head the portions of the band above the end portions of the depression, said depressed portion being provided with upwardly converging corrugations.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, this second day of April 1908.

DWIGHT J. ROBERTS.

Witnesses:

ALBERT H. MERRILL, FLORA H. Foss. 

